Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Re-Re-Re-Reee-Mix

I was raised by humans in Grand Rapids, MI. I've since found habitat that better suits my specified needs in the Pacific Northwest/Northern California but I do travel back to the mitten state every so often to breathe with my blood relatives. Now that I don't have "a real job", my most-recent visit was a lengthy one - a full 3+ weeks in the northern tundra. Now I like the snow, the cold weather, and even my immediate/extended relatives but three weeks is a long time to hold siege in your parents' basement (also a long time to convince your friend Brad that he should forgo driving back to his country home after work to let his dogs out, so that he may instead stay in the city and drink with you, sorry dogs)... So to break up the monotony of being sober and awake, I spent some time searching out coffee shops with window seats opposing perdy houses/buildings, just as I do in nearly every city I end up wandering through. Well look at what I found directly across the street from the Wealthy Street Bakery in good ol' Grapids! I normally wouldn't give a plug to a place that I only visited once, but while I was camped out there (3 and a half hours easy) they actually installed brighter lights in the ceiling above my table, over my left shoulder, which gave much better light. I don't expect that sort of thing to ever happen to me again...



Version #0
- This is the original drawing that I did while drinking waaaaaay too much coffee and following are a series of "rendering-remixes" (coining that). If there is anybody out there who is actually still reading this, I would appreciate some feedback as to which your favorite or least-favorite renditions are in the comments below.



Version #1
- Originally, this was to be the only one



Version #2
- This one ran away with itself?



Version #3
- I don't even really like mustard



Version #4
- Hrmphfsk



Version #5
- This is my favorite one right now



Version #6
- This is one of the most visually-intense things that I'll ask you to look at this calendar year, promise-ish



Version #7
- In the end, this one will be my favorite - whatever that means...

The bedroom that I grew up in overlooked Wealthy Street, so it was fun to walk down the icy sidewalk and draw a neighbor's house while enjoying a warm cup of coffee on a frigid day. Seriously though, which one is your favorite?

2 comments:

  1. I'm heading back to GR in a bit, so this was exciting to see today.

    I like the original sketch a lot, and I agree with you that #s 5 and 7 probably are my favorites too.

    These designs seem a little different from some of your usual stuff. I wonder whether you're channeling your Bay Area brethren Hot Tuna? The rendering remixes immediately reminded me of the artwork of Jorma Kaukonen, especially the cover of the Tuna's album, Phosphorescent Rat: http://image1.altnet.com/images/24/078636756424/Hot_Tuna/The_Phosphorescent_Rat/Hot_Tuna-The_Phosphorescent_Rat_3.jpg.

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  2. Thanks for the feedback Alec, and have a nice time in Grapids.

    - I used to use a lot of half-tone patterns in my Architecture school renderings, probably a result of reading a lot of Jamie Hewlett's Tank Girl comics at the time. I used them in quite a few comics while I was living in Eugene too, mostly in "The Herbivores" mini-comic series. It's a much more fun style to use with color though.

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